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Amen. The verse I wanted to focus the sermon on was in verse 3 where the Bible read, And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither thy fathers know, that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. And the title of the sermon this evening is, Why Should You Memorize the Bible? Why Should You Memorize the Bible? And I have six different points. I'll give you kind of a bonus seven one so if you just don't like the number six. But I have six main points about why I believe you should memorize the Bible. And right here we have a phrase in the Bible that says that we don't live by bread only, but by every word. That's why I use a King James Bible because it's every word of God. If you don't have an every word Bible, then you don't have the Bible. Because it says in Luke chapter number four when Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command these stones be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying that it is written that man should not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. That's why I use a King James Bible. And if God expects me to live by every word, wouldn't I have it? I mean, if he's telling me I got to live by every single word, let's imagine he didn't give it to me. That's going to be really hard to figure out. Not only that, you have all these Pentecostals and Word of Faith teachers. They constantly think that God is speaking to them, right? They'll say, Oh, God told me this and God told me that. If that's true, then I need to hear it because I'm supposed to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Am I not? But obviously, they're frauds. We have every single word. It's in this book. It's the Bible. That's where we get God's word. And it's so important that God said more important than your daily food is the Bible. And look, I don't think anybody in this room today probably forego eating. Maybe you're on a fast. I don't know. But most every single one of us had food today. And you know what? You probably had food yesterday. And you probably had food the day before that. Why? Because it's so important. Look, eating physical food is important. But God said the Bible is more important. And look, Jesus Christ, after 40 days of not eating, when every single ounce of your flesh would say, give me food. Every single ounce. He still said, you know what's more important? God's commandments. God's word. Now go to Colossians chapter number three. Colossians chapter number three. This verse in Deuteronomy is quoted twice in the Bible in the New Testament. It also says in Matthew 4, 4, But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. That's how we live. Our life is based on the Bible. So that's my first point. Why should you memorize the Bible? Because the word of God is our life. That is our life. Our life is in Christ and Christ is the Bible. Christ is the word. That's why we should memorize it. Look at Colossians chapter three, verse two. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For you're dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. Your life is based on the Bible. Your life is based on Christ. Why not memorize it? Why not memorize it? Why not get it in your heart? Why not? Because it's your life. Go to Philippians chapter number two, Philippians chapter number two. The Bible says in John six, Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. After Jesus Christ preaches a fiery sermon, most of the people walk away. They don't like the message. They don't like the truth. He says to his disciples, Will you also go away? And Simon Peter's like, Where am I going to go? You have the words of eternal life. There's nothing more important. Where would I go? I just want to be here with you. I want to hear the words of eternal life. Look at Philippians chapter two, verse 14. Do all things without murmurings and disputings that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. We see the Apostle Paul telling the Philippians, Look, you need to be holding forth the word of life. You say, What does that mean? Am I just like hold it up? Like hold it like what is that? What is holding forth me? Well, if you look in the dictionary, hold forth means to talk lengthily, assertively or tediously about a subject. So Paul saying, Look, you need to talk about the Bible more. That's why I like going to church that actually believes the Bible. You know, you go to most most churches today, you go to church, nobody will want to talk about the Bible with you. And if you start talking about the Bible, they're like, Oh, you're a goody two shoes. Oh, you got the Sunday school answer. Yeah, because I actually like the Bible. You know, sometimes people ask you advice and you say, Well, the Bible says this. They're like, Oh, that's the Sunday school answer. You're right. I like Bible. I like what God said. That's my life. And I'm going to memorize it and study it because that's what my life consists of is God's commandments. Christ is my life. People say, Oh, man, are you really living? I'm really living when I study the word of God, when I have the memorizing God, when I'm holding forth the word of God, when I'm speaking the word of God, I am really living because the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than a two edged sword piercing, even dividing asunder, soul and spirit of the joints of marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Is what the Bible says. Quick means alive. This is alive today. Look, the newspaper is dead. This is alive. The TV is dead. The newspaper is dead. The magazines are dead. The word of God has power. I just lived it. Man, you read about Sheba, the son of Bikrai, and it's like, man, we just went through that. Absalom, all the stories of the Bible. They're more applicable than anything that you'll read on any Internet site. This is alive. That's why I want to memorize the Bible because it's alive. It's alive. Let's go to another place. Go to Ephesians chapter number five. So why should you memorize the Bible? It's your life. Why not? It's what your life consists of. This life in the next is consisted of Christ. It's consisted of the word of God. It can't get more important. Not only that, though, why should you memorize the Bible? So that you can be filled with the Spirit. You want to be filled with the Spirit? It comes through memorizing God's word. Look at Ephesians chapter five verse 17. Wherefore, be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Look at verse 19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Speaking to yourself. What is that? You got the Bible in your mind and you're speaking it. You're chanting it. You're thinking about it. Look, if you don't have any of the Bible memorized, how can you do that? How can you go around singing the book of Psalms when you don't know any of it? You don't have it in your heart. And look, singing comes from the heart. It's supposed to be a place of joy, a place of happiness, something that's just residing. You're excited. And look, we need to be filled with the Spirit. The Spirit of God is going to actually bring to remembrance the things that Christ has commanded us. Go to John chapter 16. You say, what does the Holy Spirit do? What does the Holy Ghost do? Does it make me flop around on the ground and sound like a baby, talk gibberish? That's what some people think the Holy Ghost does, right? They think, oh, have you been filled with the Spirit, brother? Have you got the Spirit in you? That's what they think. It's a joke. It's stupid. It's silly. It's demonic many times. But what is the Holy Spirit really? What is the Holy Ghost do according to the Bible? Let's see what John chapter 16, verse 12 says. I have yet many things to say in you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things of the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. So the Bible makes it clear in verse 13, for he shall not speak of himself. So when the Holy Ghost speaks to someone, is it his words? No. They're actually the Father's words. And Jesus Christ is the word, and the Holy Ghost brings into remembrance the words of God. But the Holy Ghost does not speak of himself. This destroys this stupid false doctrine called oneness. Where people believe that God is one person. They think that the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ and the Father are all just the same person. There's no distinction really. But we see if that's true, how can you not speak of yourself? Where do the words come from? We see the reason that we believe the Bible of believing a trinity is because the Bible teaches the trinity. There's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and they're different from one another. The Holy Ghost, what does he do? He brings into remembrance the words of Christ. But here's the thing. Let's say you don't have any of the words of Christ. Can the Holy Ghost speak to you? He's not going to speak of himself. He can only bring that into your remembrance what you've already heard of Christ. So if you don't give the Holy Ghost anything to work with, then you're not going to hear him speak to you. You want the Holy Ghost to speak to you. You want to be filled with the Spirit. Well, you've got to get Christ in your heart and then the Holy Ghost. When you've got a lot of the Bible in you, now you can be filled with the Spirit. Now the Spirit can rest upon you mightily. Go to John chapter 14. Go back. The Bible says in 1 John chapter 2 verse 27, But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you. And ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Now the anointing. A lot of times in the Old Testament you see people are anointed with oil. Oil goes on their head. This is a physical thing. But it's representing a spiritual truth because the oil pictures the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the anointing oil and being filled with the Spirit is like being encompassed with the oil. And we see the Holy Ghost, hey, he is going to teach you and guide you and bring you into truth. He can't speak any lie and that's how you're going to abide in Christ. You learn Christ's words. You get Christ's words in your heart and the oil is going to refresh those words in your mind. Have you ever been in a situation and just a verse just pops in your mind that just fits that situation? You didn't even necessarily memorize it. You just all of a sudden just comes to your thought process and you're like, Whoa, that's how the Holy Ghost works. That's the operation of the Holy Ghost is you'll bring that verse into your mind. The Holy Ghost does not work this way. Buy a red Corvette. I need to get a five car garage over here. That's not how the Holy Ghost works. People say all kinds of weird stuff. Oh, God told me this. God told me to marry this person. God told me to buy this car. God told me to get this job. That's not how it works, folks. The Holy Ghost is going to bring to your remembrance God's words. Now, this is how it could work. You could be dating someone that's unsaved and the Bible says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. The Holy Ghost might speak to you that way and tell you, Whoa, don't get don't get involved with this person. You need to get involved with someone actually believes the Bible that's actually saved. Now, look at John Chapter 14, verse 23. Jesus answered and said unto them, If a man love me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him. And we, that sounds plural, will come unto him and make our abode with him. Sounds plural again. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings. And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. So is it Jesus Christ's words? No, he's preaching the Father's words, is he not? Look at verse 25. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. So he's saying, look, I'm going to give someone to help you. All the words that I told you, he's going to help bring them into remembrance. But what happens if you never heard any of Christ's words? You can't remember something you never heard. You can't remember something you didn't experience. That's called lies. When you start just making stuff up, look, you have to have experienced it. And if you want the Holy Ghost to speak to you, you've got to get Christ's words in your heart. How does that work, reading your Bible? Not only that, memorizing the Word of God will allow the Holy Ghost to speak to you greatly. You want to be filled with the Spirit? Memorize God's Word. Now go if you would to Psalms chapter 19, Psalms chapter 19. The Bible interchanges the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit with the Holy Ghost, because that's just different names. We see the Holy Ghost, we see the Holy Spirit, we see the Spirit of God, we see the Comforter. One good verse to understand this, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12, 3, Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. So when it's talking about the Holy Ghost, it calls him the Spirit of God. So we've learned two points. Why should you memorize the Bible? Well, first of all, Christ is our life. Second of all, if you want to be filled with the Spirit, you've got to give the Spirit something to work with. That's why you should be memorizing the Bible. Here's a third point. We should want to be converted. Now what does converted mean? If you look it up in a dictionary, the word convert means to cause, to change in form, character, or function. Now when you're unsaved, do you want to maybe change your character a little bit? Do you want to get a little bit closer to what Christ is like? That is conversion. And look, one word that the Bible would use that a lot of people are familiar with, the theological term is sanctification. What is sanctification? It's becoming more like Christ, being more godly, getting sin out of your life. And the Bible, when it talks about being converted, it's saying, hey, change your character. Change your form. Get a little bit more Christ-like. Look at Psalms 19, verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. What is it saying? Think of the word change. Look, when you get God's word in your heart, you're going to change. You know, some people in your family might look at you and say, you know what? You're different than a few years ago. There's something different about you. You say, yeah, the word of God converts me. The word of God changes me. I can't read this book every single day and stay the same. It has an effect on my life. You know, some people say you are what you eat. You are what you eat spiritually, that's for sure. And look, the word of God is going to convert you. Look at verse 8. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous. So what's the Bible doing? It's giving joy to your heart. Not only that, it's giving you purity. Not only that, it's enlightening your eyes. It's changing your outlook on life. You see things more clearly. Things start making sense. Not only that, it'll clean you up. Not only that, you have truth and righteousness in your life. Look at verse 10. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant worn. And in keeping of them there is of great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Look at verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. You want to be converted? Why don't you start meditating on the word of God in your heart? That is going to change you. Look, your heart's wicked. It's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked is what the Bible says. And you want to convert that heart? It comes through meditating on God's word, getting some truth, getting some medicine for your heart. It's the word of God. That's why you should meditate on it. That's why you should memorize it. Go if you would to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. The Bible will change your attitude. It'll change everything about you. It says in Psalm 63, I'll read a couple of different places for you. The Bible says, My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches. He says when you meditate on God's word, it'll give you joy. Hey, I'm really struggling. I feel depressed. I'm really grieved. I have something bad going on in my life. Well, start meditating on the word of God and it can bring you joy. Say I can't go to sleep. Meditate on the word of God. Man, that'll put me to sleep real quick. You start reading your Bible late at night. Man, this is like out. I can hardly keep awake when I'm reading the Bible at night. And look, it's a double win, right? Either I fall asleep real quick. Great. Or I get more of God's word. Great. So it's just a double win. Psalm 77, I'll read for you in other places. It says, I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work and talk of all thy doings. The Bible uses the word meditate over and over and over. Psalms 119 says, I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate my precepts and have respect unto all thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. Now, if you're going to not forget something, what do you have to do? You have to put it to memory. You have to be able to remember it. Talk about memorizing the word of God. Why? It'll convert you. It'll change you. It'll make you more Christ-like. This is what the Bible commands from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Let's look at Romans chapter 12, New Testament here. Verse 1. The Bible says that we should be transformed. You know, some people have these signs outside their church. They say, come as you are. Leave as you are. I want you to show up and get better. I want you to come in and get transformed. To get converted. To be different through Christ's words. To be a little bit cleaner. A little bit more righteous. Have a little bit more truth. Have a little bit more zeal. Be edified and admonished to serve God. Be filled with the Spirit. Sing the praise unto God. Lift up your voice and make known the praises and wonders of God. Have some joy in your heart. Look, I don't want you to come in and just, oh, everything's great. Everything's good. No. We need to constantly work on converting our souls to being more like Christ. None of us have arrived. I haven't arrived. You haven't arrived. None of us are close, okay? We've got to keep reading this word and memorizing it and studying it so that we can be better. Go to Psalms 119. Psalms 119. So the word of God, when you memorize it, it's going to have a dramatic impact on your life. It's going to change the way you look at the world. Not only that, when you memorize the word of God, it's going to give you wisdom. It's going to make you intelligent. It's going to make you smart. People in the Old Testament, when they find a godly Christian, they look at him and they're like, man, this guy's so smart. They look at Daniel, they say, he's ten times wiser than all of the magicians, than all of the scholars, everybody that went to Bible college. I mean, this guy is ten times smarter. You say, hey, Pastor Shelley, what Bible college do you go to? This one. The King James Bible College. I just studied the word of God. And look, I'll take a guy that's memorized the word of God over any Bible college degree. Period. They know what the Bible says. And look, you go to Bible college, you don't study the Bible. You study other books. You get other information. They don't actually teach you the word of God. They don't actually memorize any of the Bible. I guarantee most every college graduate from there probably doesn't even have one chapter of the Bible memorized. What were they doing for four years? I don't know. Wasn't studying the word of God, though. And even at my secular job, I remember I was a computer programmer, still am technically, last days on Friday. But, you know, we were talking about training. And in the computer programming industry, you know, it's ever-changing. And I was trying to emphasize to my boss the importance of getting more training and constantly improving yourself and getting more education. And this verse just popped in my mind from Ecclesiastes. I'll read for you. It says, if the iron be blunt and you do not wet the edge, then must he put to more strength, but wisdom is profitable to direct. And I gave him that verse, and I explained to him what it meant. I said, look, the Bible is saying that if the guy goes out and he's trying to chop down trees and his ax is blunt, he's going to have to use more work. It's going to be harder for him to do it. If he just stops for a minute and goes and sharpens his ax, then he's going to have less strokes. It's going to be easier. I said, why don't we work smarter, not harder? And if you go and train yourself and get education and you learn how to do things better, you'll be better off. And the Bible is saying the same thing with wisdom. Work smarter, not harder. That's the Bible's philosophy. God's not saying just be this mindless drone. No, use wisdom. Use understanding. Use knowledge. Gain these things and they will help you. And I said this to my boss. He's like, that's great. That's good wisdom. That's good advice. It's not me. It's the Bible. And look, the Bible will make you wise in every single situation, whether it be at the workplace, whether it be at home, raising children, in your marriage, going out soul winning, being a pastor, being just a church member. I don't care what area of life. The Bible gives wisdom. And so I want wisdom. So I'm going to memorize it. I'm going to meditate upon it. I'm going to study it. And look, memorization is always great. Go to your job. Memorize all the things that you need to know about your job. You know what? Your boss will give you a promotion. You'll do better at your job. You'll be more effective. It's important to memorize these things. And if Christ is my life, man, I need to get to work. I need to start memorizing God's word. Look at Psalms 119 verse 97. Oh, how I love thy law, it is my meditation some of the day, parts of the day, all the day. How can you think about the Bible all day? Well, look, all of us have, most of us have jobs, right? How can you be thinking about the Bible? Can you really just have the Bible while you're doing, you know, I'm doing labor, you know, I'm doing electrical. No, you have it memorized. Then, no matter where you're at, what you're doing, you can always be thinking about the word of God. But if you don't have any of the Bible memorized, you can't meditate upon it. You can't be thinking about it. This is why it's important to get it in your heart. And look at verse number 98. Thou, through thy commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts. You know what? Every single person in this room has the potential to be the wisest person on this planet. There's nothing holding you back. You could be wiser than any teacher, than any professor, look, than anybody when you make God's word your meditation. If you memorize the whole Bible, you'll be the wisest man to walk on this planet. And I can't force you to do anything. You're in complete control and God's wisdom is at your fingertips. It's right here. It's the King James Bible. If you want to be wise, be wise. Study the word of God. Memorize the word of God and you can be more wise than anyone. You can have more understanding. David excelled his teachers. You want to know why? Because he studied more Bible. Because he memorized more of the Bible. You want to talk to somebody that's really wise? I bet they have a lot of Bible memorized. Look, there's a key. And we take the word meditate. What does meditate mean? I don't like the New Age definition. This is what most people think of. It's like clear your mind. No, the Bible does not talk about clearing your mind. It's getting God's word on your mind. And if you look at the definition of meditate up, this is what it says. Think deeply or focus one's mind for a period of time in silence or with the aid of chanting for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation. How about you just chant the words of God's over and over to get it memorized? You know, you say, how do you memorize Bible verses, Pastor Shelley? I just take the verse and I just say it over and over and over. Eventually, you just memorize it. It's this weird phenomenon that when you just say it over and over and over, you somehow get it memorized. It somehow sticks with you. And look, that's what the Bible's saying with meditation. Meditate on the word of God. Chant it over and over and over. And look, mindless chanting is not necessarily the full compass of this. Obviously, once you kind of get it gurgitated, you can actually spout it out. You actually have it memorized. Now you can start thinking about what it means. And you can get better understanding of what it means when you have it memorized. I guarantee that. Go to Proverbs, chapter number 8. Proverbs, chapter number 8. The Bible says in Psalms 49, my mouth shall speak of wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. You want to speak with wisdom, well, you need to get the word of God in your heart. The Bible says, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So if you have a lot of Bible in your heart, it's going to come out. And look, when the Bible's coming out of your mouth, it's wise, period. It's always wisdom. This is where we get wisdom is from the word of God. Look at Proverbs, chapter 8, verse 5. O ye simple, understand wisdom, and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Here, for I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing forward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge, receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. Look, the Bible emphasizes wisdom. You say, hey, what do you want? You're going to homeschool your children. Yeah, I'm not down on education. I want them to be wise, so we're going to study the Bible. You know, you go to the public full system, how much of the Bible do you learn? Zero. How wise are you? Not very wise. I've met a lot of these kids graduating. They don't know very much, do they? And look, wisdom comes from this book, and obviously, there's more than knowledge that's just in the Bible. Obviously, I'm for mathematics. I'm for English. I'm for history. I'm for all of it, but the principle thing is wisdom. Get, therefore, wisdom from God's word, and parents should be teaching and training their children and getting them to memorize the Bible. Look, even at church in the bulletin, we say, we'll give you a prize if you memorize, and some people still don't do it. I mean, I don't know what else to do for you. I'm not going to get up there and grab your list and be like, all right, let's just chant the verse. Okay? I'm trying to inspire you and give you good reasons for God, so you can be wise. The Bible condemns being foolish. The Bible does not speak well of someone that's stupid, that's simple. You say, hey, I'm simple-minded. Well, guess what? The word of God will make you wise, so why don't you study and memorize the word of God, and you'll be wise. You'll be wiser than so many people. Go to Proverbs 18. Just flip over a couple of chapters. Go to Proverbs 18. If you want to speak with truth, get the Bible. The Bible is always truth. Jesus Christ is the truth, so if you want truth, get the word of God in your heart. Proverbs 18, verse 1. Through desire, a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. You say, Pastor Shelley, memorizing the word of God, that's different. Not very many people are doing it. Yeah, you're going to separate yourself. If you don't separate yourself, memorize the word of God. Get large portions of Scripture memorized. You will have separated yourself, and the Bible says, look, you're going to intermeddle with all wisdom. I want to intermeddle with all wisdom. I like all of the Bible, and it has to come from desire. You have to desire it. If you don't really desire, it's never going to really work. So we must find a way in our hearts to realize the importance of meditating on the word of God, the importance of memorizing Scripture, so then that way we can get the desire, and then through the desire, we can separate ourselves, and then when we separate ourselves, we can be wise. Now go to Joshua chapter number one. Why memorize the word of God? So you can be wise. My fifth point, why should you memorize the Bible so you can have success? You want to be successful? It's through memorizing God's word. Look at Joshua 1 verse 8. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein, day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. God said to Joshua, Moses speaking to Joshua, God speaking through Moses to Joshua, he says this. You've got to meditate day and night. If you want to be successful, Joshua, you can't let the word of God slip. You've got to be meditating on it and memorizing it and getting it in your heart. That is how you're going to be successful. You want to be successful in the Christian life? It's through memorizing God's word. It's through meditating on God's word. Go to Psalms chapter number one. Psalms chapter number one. The Bible emphasizes this over and over and over, and it makes me sick when I hear somebody downplay Bible memorization. Look, I've seen good Christians, good soul winners, and they get down on Bible memorization. Sounds like you need to memorize a few more scriptures. Let me show you some. How about Psalms chapter one, verse one? Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor siteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit and his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The Bible says you want to prosper? You want to be successful? It comes through God's commandments. It comes through meditating on the word of God. Now, some people, they take this word meditate, and they say, ah, it's not memorization. Let's just thinking about it. Okay, let's just hypothetically say that was true, which is not. But if you're going to think about something, don't you have to already have it in your heart? Don't you have to already know it? It's impossible to be thinking about Bible verses if you don't already have them memorized. You have to get them memorized just for you to think about them. Otherwise, you're going to be thinking something that's not true. I don't want to think about the NIV. I don't want to kind of have the Bible verse. I want to know the Bible verse. I want to have every word of God. That's how I'm going to live by it. So you've got to get it memorized. Then if you want to think about it, that's great. That's a bonus. But you know how you get there? By memorizing it. By studying it and getting in your heart. You want to be successful. Let's take some areas for a moment and focus on how you can be successful in these areas and how it's dependent upon memorization. How about just understanding the Bible? I mean, the first time, if you read the Bible cover to cover one time, did you just understand all of it? I mean, the book of Job is really easy, right? The book of Ezekiel. I mean, some of these things are just so obvious, right? Obviously, the Bible is deep. Obviously, the mysteries of God are deep. There's a lot of things that are hard to be understood the Bible teaches. And how are you going to understand them? Through Bible memorization. There's been many places in Scripture that I looked at and I said, I have no idea what that's saying. I just do not understand this. You know how you fix that? Why don't you memorize it? And then after you memorize it, it's not like you just magically then instantly understand it, but it then will give you the opportunity to understand it better. And when you memorize the Bible, there's this unique thing. If you memorize the New Testament, you'll start reading the Old Testament, you'll be like, oh, that's a quote in the New Testament. Look, if you read the book of Romans chapter number 10, it's virtually all quotes from the Old Testament mixed all over. It's basically just took verses from everywhere in the Old Testament, just put it all together. Romans 10. Look, when you memorize the Bible, it'll unlock the Bible to itself, comparing spiritual with spiritual, things that you didn't even realize. You want to understand the Bible, you need to memorize it. Through memorization, you have better understanding of the Word of God. Go to Proverbs chapter number 2. Proverbs chapter number 2. So if I look at a passage of Scripture, if I look at a portion of Scripture and I just feel like, I just don't, I don't know if I have a good grasp on what this is teaching. Here's my first step, memorize it. Then once you have it memorized, you can meditate upon it. Now that I have it memorized, now I can think about it. Now I can compare spiritual with spiritual. Now I can let the Holy Ghost speak to me. Because now the Holy Ghost can use those verses and bring them to my remembrance when I'm thinking of other parts of the Bible. When I'm reading other parts of the Bible, then all of a sudden the Holy Ghost will knock. Hey, remember that verse you memorized that you didn't understand? Hey, it fits together like a glove here now, doesn't it? That's how you can understand the Bible. Look at Proverbs chapter 2 verse 6. For the Lord giveth wisdom, out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity, yea, every good path, when wisdom enterth into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant on thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee. How does he understand so much? Because it's in his heart. How do you get the Word of God in your heart? By memorizing it. That's how you're going to have great understanding. You want to understand the Bible, you must memorize it. If you don't know what the Bible says, you're not going to understand it. This is a key to unlocking great understanding of the Bible. If you want to find out what the Bible says, memorize it. Clear as day. I've had so many passages where through memorization it gave me greater understanding. And it's not because I'm special. It's not because I'm unique. You can understand more than me. Just memorize more. Just study more. You can know more. You say, hey, I want to be a great preacher. Well, go to Ezekiel chapter number three. Go to Ezekiel chapter number three. I want to be the best preacher. You know who the best preachers are? The ones that have a lot of Bible memorized. You know, one of my favorite preachers, a guy named Pastor Steven Anderson, guess what? He's memorized more than half of the New Testament. You say, why is this guy so good at preaching? Why is it so plain? Why does it seem like he has so much understanding? Is it because he's just unique? Oh, I can't be him. I wasn't born like him. I don't have the same gift. It's because he's memorized so much of the Bible. Look, when you see a guy that's so good at preaching the Bible, let me tell you the secret. They have a lot of the Bible memorized. You say, hey, I want to be a great preacher, Pastor Shelley. Memorize the Bible. Memorize scripture. When you get it in your heart, you're going to be a great preacher. If you have a ton of the Bible memorized, I guarantee you're going to be a great preacher, period. You say, hey, how can I improve my preaching? Well, how many verses do you have memorized? None. Start memorizing. Start getting some scripture in your heart. You want to be a great preacher of God's word? Memorize God's word. Look at Ezekiel chapter 3, verse 1. Moriah said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest. Eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and it caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee into the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. How could he speak with his words? Because he ate it. What does that look like? Memorizing the word of God. We see the ox that treadeth out the corn. What is that a picture of? The guy sitting there chewing on the words of God, chewing on them, meditating upon them, chanting them, getting them in his heart, understanding them, and then when it's in your belly, you can go and speak God's words. If you want to influence people with the Spirit of God, you've got to get the Spirit of God inside you. Get the word of God dwelling in you richly, and then let the Holy Ghost put those verses to use. But look, if you don't give the Holy Spirit anything to work with, I mean, what's the sword of the Spirit? The word of God. The word of God, is it not? You want to let the Holy Ghost use that sword? Well, why don't you start working on your sword? Some people, they have a toothpick to use. Why don't you get that a dagger, at least, you know? And then start working on your double-edged sword, the word of God. Go to 2 Timothy 4. And look, this is a common theme with all of God's men. Joshua is told to meditate therein day and night. We see Moses, when God was speaking to Moses, and the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dead, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind, have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. God says, I want to be with your mouth. How are you going to do that? The Bible. God's word. He wants to be with you. We even see in Isaiah, God puts a live coal on Isaiah's tongue. Look, God wants his words on your tongue. He wants them in your heart. He wants them in your belly. He wants them to be filled with the words of God. Look at 2 Timothy 4, verse 2. Preach the word! Be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhorteth all long, suffering, and doctrine. I could get up here, and I could scream, and yell, and dance, and do all the same things I'm doing, but if I have none of God's word coming out of my mouth, it's going to be vain. It's going to be empty. You're not going to be edified. It's not going to be powerful. The power is not me. It's not my flesh. It's not my presentation. It's this. It's the King James Bible. It's God's word that has the power. If you want to be a successful preacher, you must preach the word. Get the word of God coming out of your mouth. Revelation chapter 10, I'll read for you one other place. Go if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. John, he's told in chapter 10, verse 9, And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up. And it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and I ate it up. And it was in my mouth sweet as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. We constantly see a theme that God's prophets, they have the word of God in them. And he's using physical examples to represent spiritual truths. He's saying you physically eat the roll is like you meditating on the word of God and getting the word of God inside of you. You want to be a great preacher? Memorize God's word. How about this? I want to be a good soul winner. Memorize all the verses you use out soul winning. That's going to make you a great soul winner. You know, I've noticed that everybody that's really good at getting people saved, they don't have to read in the Bible the verses they're using. They can quote them. They know them like the back of their hand. They don't even have to use this if they didn't have to. They could just tell you the Romans wrote. They could just quote for you every single verse that they use. That's a great way to become a better soul winner. The great soul winners know every single verse that they use. That's why in 1 Peter chapter 3 the Bible says, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. He's saying you already have to be ready to answer. That sounds like you already have the answer inside. If you already have the answer ready, it sounds like you know what you're going to say. How can you know what you're going to say? Because you have the Word of God inside you. What's the key? Get the solution inside you. Get the Word of God dwelling inside you. Hey, I want to be a great parent. We had a sermon this morning talking about honoring thy father and mother and the importance of the relationship where a father is giving instruction, the children obeying the instruction. And look, being a mother today is hard. The world's against you. There's a lot of things against you and attacking you. But when you have the Word of God dwelling in you richly, you're going to be a great parent. When you read the book of Proverbs, it's constantly instructing the sons of what to do. You know who needs to memorize that? Mothers. You say, hey, I want my son to be a good son. Well, once you memorize Proverbs, you're going to know what to tell your son. You're going to have a lot of good instruction for your son when you know the book of Proverbs. You say, hey, I thought independent fundamental Baptists want dumb women. I don't want a dumb woman. I want my wife to be intelligent and wise and to give good instruction to my children. She needs to memorize the Bible just as much as I do. She's going to be a pastor? Is she going to be preached? No. But she could raise a godly man. She could raise a preacher. You know, every single good preacher had a mother. Look, mothers are just as important as fathers. They're both important in Christ. It's just as important for women to memorize the Bible as for men. And we see many women in the Bible had a strong influence on their sons. How about Timothy? His grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice, had a strong impact on Timothy's faith, and he was a great man of God. He was a great preacher. He had great impact in this world, and it came from his grandmother and from his mother. Don't think of yourself as insignificant. Memorize the Word of God. It will have great impact in this world. How about just being a good Christian? Well, if you want to be successful in this life, you must depart from iniquity. But the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin. And look, if we were honest with ourselves, we have foolish thoughts every single day. So how are you going to escape all the foolish thoughts? It comes from having the Word of God inside you and casting down those imaginations. Look at 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Here's a good one. You struggle with foolish thoughts. Why don't you memorize these verses? Bringing into obedience every thought. Saying, hey, I just had this dumb thought. I need to bring that obedience unto Christ. That's not good for me to think those things. I need to think on high things, things above, think on pure things. Under the pure, all things are pure is what the Bible says. So we need to memorize the Word of God just to live the godly Christian life. That's how you're going to be successful. You say, hey, I don't know any of the Bible. Not going to be successful. Not going to win over the battle of sin. It's too strong. The temptations are too strong. This world is pulling you with so many strings. That's why the Bible constantly says to meditate all day, day and night. Meditate therein day and night. Go to 1 Timothy, chapter number 4. 1 Timothy, chapter number 4. I feel like I'm really successful. I don't need the Word of God. You're not successful according to the Bible. Supposing that gain is godliness, that's not success. The love of money. Look at 1 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 8. For bodily exercise profit a little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. The Bible says you want to have profit in this world. How about this life and the next? It's through being godly. Through getting God's Word. And look how he tells us how to do it. Look at verse 13. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things. Give thyself holy to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. You want to be saved? Meditate on the Word of God. And you know what? Timothy was not special. He's not the only one doing it. He's supposed to be an example of the believers. He's supposed to show you how to do it, to encourage you to do it. He's not supposed to be the only one memorizing the Bible. Everyone is supposed to be memorizing the Bible. That's how we're going to have success. How can we be steadfast? How can we be unmovable? How can we always be abounding in the work of the Lord? We as a church need to memorize God's Word. That's how we're going to be successful. Why should I memorize the Bible, Pastor Shelley? Well, do you want a successful church? That is how we're going to have success. Go to Philippians chapter 3. My final point. Why should I memorize the Bible? Now, all the reasons I've given I love. But this last one, to me, makes the most sense. Why should you memorize the Bible? So that you can know Christ. Christ is the Word of God. Hey, if you're dating someone, don't you want to call them? Don't you want to talk to them? Don't you want to spend time with them? If you want to have a good relationship with someone, it comes through spending time with them. You say, hey, Jesus Christ is on the right hand of the Father. You're right. But you know what? He's right here, too. You want to know Christ? It's right here. I want to have fellowship with God. I want to have fellowship with Christ. That's why I want to memorize it so He can be with me at all times. So I can always be in fellowship with Christ. Look at Philippians 3, verse 8. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ. Paul says it's excellent to know Christ. He says it's better than anything. I would lose everything just to know Christ. Not only that, verse 9. And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Paul says I just want to know Christ. I love Christ. I want fellowship with Christ. It's so excellent. I count everything but done in comparison to Christ because the Bible is so amazing. I just love it. I just want it in my heart. I love everything about it. It's so true. It's a light unto my feet. It's a lamp unto my feet. It guides me wherever I go. That's why I want to memorize it. That's why I love it. That's why it's so great. That's why it's so excellent, is knowing Christ. Go to 1 John, chapter number 1. 1 John, chapter number 1. The Bible says in John 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made, and Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it, comprehended it not. We have light through Christ. We have life through Christ. He is the Word. In 1 John, chapter 3, I'll read for you another place. It says, And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him, but whoso keepeth His word. In Him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in Him. Knowing Christ is through keeping His commandments, and you know how you're going to keep His commandments? By knowing the commandments. By having the commandments meditated upon your heart, by trying to follow them. If you don't know what to do, you're not going to do it. Nobody accidentally serves Christ. Nobody accidentally does all the right things. Nobody accidentally becomes a soul winner. Nobody accidentally comes to this church. Nobody accidentally reads the King James Bible. Look, it comes through work. You're not going to accidentally do big things for God. It happens with a plan. You say, hey, I want to know Christ. You got to work at it. You're not going to accidentally know Christ. You want to know Christ? You better work and strive for that. John, chapter 3, I'll read for you another place. He says, For He whom God has sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. Why was Jesus Christ such a good preacher? Oh, yeah, He had this entire thing memorized. He is the Word of God. That's why He was so powerful. That's why He was so magnetic. That's why the things that came out of His lips had so much power, because it was the Word of God. Everything that He's speaking is right. Everything He's speaking is truth. Everything that He's speaking is wisdom. Look at John, chapter 1, verse 1. That which is from the beginning, that which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, is the Word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shown to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us, that which we have seen and heard declare unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with the Son Jesus Christ, and these things rightly unto you, that your joy may be full. You know, Christ, you have a full joy. And He says, I've written these things unto you so that you can have fellowship with us. You can be fellowshiping with Christ like we are. We have this great relationship with Christ. We want you to have it. But it comes through the Word of God. Go to Hebrews, chapter number 1. Hebrews, chapter number 1. See that Jesus Christ, He's the Word of God. Not only that, He's the life. Not only that, He's the light. Not only that, He's eternal life, which was with the Father. We see the Son has always been with the Father, and He is where we get our life. Look at Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 1. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in the last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds. Jesus Christ came to this earth to speak unto us the Word of God. Not only that, He's the one that made the entire world. He is the Creator. Go to Luke, chapter 4. The Bible says in Hebrews 11, through faith we understand that the words were framed by the Word of God. So that the things which are seen were not made of the things which do appear. You want to know your Creator? It's right here. The world was framed by the words of God. This is the Creator. This is what created everything, the Word of God. It created you. God formed you in His belly before, you know, He knew you. He foreknew you. The Word of God created everything. The Bible even says in Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 9, And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. All things were created by Jesus Christ. It was a great mystery how things are even created. Through faith we understand. I can't understand in the physical. I can't understand with human earthly logic. I can only stand by God's commandments and believing them. That's what faith is. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When I read the Word of God, I understand that's what's true. You say, can you explain that carnal means? No. Through faith I understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. Look at Luke, chapter 4, verse 16. And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. So Jesus Christ, he was the Bible reader at his church. It says in verse 17, And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaias, and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. Do you think he was good at reading the Bible? The Word of God, reading the Word of God, do you think he was decent at that? I bet it sounded pretty good. Look at verse 21. And he began to say unto them, This day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears, and all bear him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? They were just flabbergasted. They were like, Wow! Everything coming out of this guy's mouth is so wonderful. It's so gracious. It has so much power. Go to John chapter 7. John chapter 7. You know who quotes the most scripture when he's talking? Jesus Christ. He's constantly saying, Have you not read? David said this. Isaiah said this. He's constantly quoting the Word of God in his daily dialogue. Everything that he's saying, he's filled with the Spirit. He has the words of God dwelling in him richly. I want to know Christ. I want to be like Christ. That's why I want to memorize the Bible. I want to follow in Christ's footsteps of knowing the Word of God fully. Look at John chapter 7, verse 43. So there was a division among the people because of him, and some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him. Then came the officers of the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said on him, Why have you not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. They couldn't even take Jesus Christ, because the words that were coming out of his mouth were so powerful. The Word of God is power. The Word of God will change men's hearts. The Word of God is what we need to rely upon. You say, How can we destroy the spiritual wickedness in this world? The Word of God. How can you destroy false doctrine? The Word of God. How can you get people saved? The Word of God. How can you take people that are ungodly, that are living in filth, they don't know anything about the Bible, and you can make them an on-fire godly Christian? The Word of God. The Word of God. That's what we have to get in our hearts. It will make wise the simple. You say, Hey, I want to be wise. It's through memorizing God's Word. Be like Christ. Why should we memorize the Bible? Because Christ is our life. Why should we memorize the Bible so we can be filled with the Spirit? Why should we memorize the Bible so we can be converted, so that we can be wise, so that we can be successful, so that we can know Christ? I'll give you one last bonus point. Go to John chapter 8. Just look at verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If, if Calvinists, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. You want to be Christ's disciple? It's dependent upon you continuing in His Word. Not every Christian is a disciple. You know who the disciples are? The ones that actually follow the Bible. The ones that actually do what Christ said. You say, Why should I memorize the Bible so I can be Christ's disciple? Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your Word. Thank you for the power of God's Word. I pray that we would just memorize and meditate upon your Word, so that we could be successful in everything that we do, so that we could have power, not of our own might, not of carnal means, but through your Word, through the power of the Word of God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.